Sleeping Beauty
by Chibi-Starshine
Summary: Everyone around him were nothing but beasts. She refused to let his words convince her, or deceive her; her actions were innocent and kind. Has he found some one besides Ritsuka? Can she wake herself up? Or does she need his words...
1. Prologue

She stared soulessly at the spectacle in front of her. Her lower back burning with a sensation of pain and contempt. His eyes widened as she stood there at the door - he had been caught; nothing he could say would change that.

"Filth," She paused, words dripping with venom, "Utter filth!"

The girl slammed the door and ran. She ran as far as she could, away from that nightmare - away from him. The anger within her boiled down into depression as soon as she stopped. Unable to bear it, she cried. All her pented in sorrow and spite erupted into that pathetic shout. Never had she felt so small...so used...

She vowed that from that day forward, she despised the opposite sex.


	2. Chapter 1: Lost and Found

It was gone. She was betrayed and that was all there was to it. Now she was alone; a sacrifice without a fighter.

"Izahana-San!" A sharp snap to her head from his ruler pulled her back into the cruel realm of reality.

"I understand that you're an Honor Student, but that gives you no reason to sleep in my class!"

The girl sat up solemnly. She felt worthless - pure garbage. 'No,' She thought, 'They're the garbage, all of them,'

"Kae-Chan!" Her friend nudged her.

"What?" She yawned.

"You okay? You seem kinda down,"

"No, no, no!" She reassured, "I'm fine, really!"

"Izahana-San! Mononoke-San!" The teacher scorned, "Do you want to spend time in detention together?"

"No, Sir!" They spoke simultaniously.

"Good,"

Ayami has a positive effect on Kaede. Her friend could've made her day, no matter how sad she had gotten.

"Oh. My. Fucking. God!" Kaede blurted out laughing, "You're such a dweeb!"

"Oh - oh! I see what you did there! That hurt, ya know,"

Their highest grade classmate walked past their lunch table; his eyes piercing into the souls of his peers, instantly judging them with high disgust. Ayami shivered, but her reacted differently; she bravely stared back at him, unwilling to let his judgement affect her. His ears perked up as he glared at her. How dare she place herself above the rank of the beast she was. Only him and one other were able to do that. He continued to walk on, leaving the eyes of the people around him.

"What a jerk!" Ayami grunted.

"..."

"Kae-Chan?"

"What? Oh, yeah..." Kaede half answered as she stared into oblivion.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, you're alot quieter than normal,"

"I'm fine, don't worry," She stood up.

"Kae-Chan, where are you going?

"Outside,"

Ayami watched her friend. Normally she was chipper and motherly. Something was definity wrong. Now that she thought about it, Kaede hadn't spent time with Hiroshi today. Did they break up? She'd have to call Kaede after school.

Kaede's legs worked like mindless machines. She didn't care that they screamed out in pain. They would just have to rest later. She needed to know why he would smile, yet have his eyes stare past others the way they did. Why did he seem to hate everyone around him? She had been abused by her peers once, she refured to let it happen again.

"Seimei-Sempai," She called, "I need to talk to you,"

He instantly stopped eating when her voice hit his ears. The hell could she want now? He smiled lightly at her, showing informal manners; his eyes, however, bore into her. A cold shiver crawled up her spine. Ignoring the physical warning, she sat beside him. His eyes revealed an even greater level of disgust as he slightly moved away from her, placing his elbow on his knee and his head in his palm. She sighed. The 'germ' treatment: when some one treated you like you had a highly contagious, extremely dangerous disease.

"You don't like the people around here, I can tell," She ran her hand over her ears as she gandered ahead of her, "What about them do you not like?"

Silence. She couldn't take the hint that he didn't want her around by not answering the question. Another heavy sigh left her lips.

"I'm including myself, ya' know,"

Again, he refused to speak to her. At this moment, he was a man of few words.

"C'mon, just tell me: I don't bite," Her voice was calm and soothing; he subconsciously thougnt that she could make a decent mother in a few more years. After another akward silence, he finally spoke:

"I don't believe that's any of your business what I think of other people," His face didn't even begin to match his dark tone.

"Well," She drug out the first word longer than necessary, "I was just curious; I found it irksome that some one would talk to me with respect, then go on thinking I'm lower than them,"

His expression became slightly confused to say the least. Normally, the females in his class would find him interesting because of his beauty and intelligence. But she wanted to speak with him about his thought processes? There had to be a catch.

"Who are you?" He asked, his tone more annoyed than before.

"Kaede: nothing more, nothing less," She replied, "And yes, I am unusual,"

'Unusual' wasn't nearly enough to describe her; capricous was more accurate in his mind. She wasn't at all a dog like Soubi, listening to every commend without fail: she was more like a cat - observing and only willing to do what she wanted. 'However,' He thought, 'I also heard somewhere that cats were good judges of character,'

"Hey,"

Her trailing voice somehow snapped him back to reality. How was that even possible? Whatever the rason, it was pissing him off.

"Hm?"

"Uhm, nevermind,"

Unable to bear this game of hers, he rose to his feet.

"The air here is stale; I'm leaving,"

"What? Why...?"

"Because, your presence bores me,"

Kaede noted his disappearing figure. Somewhere deep inside her was rattled violently. Tears ran down her cheek. She didn't notice; she was too numbed by what just happened.

"Not again," She whimpered, "Please, not again..."


	3. Chapter 2: Siblings

Saya whined like a puppy as she shook her older sister. It was as if all life was sucked out of her.

"What is it?" Kaede ask dryly, "And who said you could be in my room?"

"Well!" Her sister huffed, "Excuse me for giving a damn!"

Kaede sighed as her sister gave her a 'diva' look. She really wished Saya had picked her middle school friends more closely: now she had a really bad attitude - not to mention she was hot tempered. That was never good.

"Shut up, Saya,"

"B-But Onee-San!" Her voice was pleading, if not begging.

"I don't need this..."

Saya flopped on Kaede. A muffled 'Get off' left the elder of the two. With a smug giggle, Saya rolled over on Kaede's bed; it had only been a month since they had seperated from sharing the same room, so she had a habit of entering Kaede's room without permission.

"Onee-San," She cried, "You haven't talked to me all day~!"

"What show?" The question was almost subconscious.

"Heart no Kuni no Alice!" She chanted like a small child.

"Okay, let me get into that phase..."

Saya stared at her sister for awhile. Kaede would sound fusterated rather than tired. Did she get enough sleep? Wait, Saya did hear a thud from the wall (Kaede rolls around in her sleep, it doesn't help that she sleeps like a rock either), so she knows she went to bed. She also noticed Kaede's eyes were red.

"Have you been crying?"

Her older sister rolled over and looked into her face; a peaceful silence graced the two. A long inhalement of fresh air prepared her sister for her later statement.

"Hiroshi cheated on me,"

Saya's lips curled into a scowl; at that point, she probably wouldn't even spit in his direction now. She patted Kaede's shoulder in reassurance.

"He's not good enough for you anyway; you're higher up in the tree,"

She knew that Saya meant well, but it wasn't enough. Kaede pulled the back of her shirt down and shook her head slowly.

"You wouldn't understand,"

"Liar! Dirty Liar!" Saya screamed, "You think I'd never understand you, is that it?"

"No; that's not what I -"

"Shut up! I don't care anymore!"

With that, Saya stomped away. Out of fustration, Kaede grabbed her pillow and released a loud scream, softened by its suffocating warmth. Why must she always assume like that? She was always afraid that if she explained why she was so attached to Hiroshi, that Saya would get hurt. That the other pairs would kidnap her and toture her younger sister for information she wouldn't had known. Saya had protected Kaede as children, now it was her turn.

But Saya wasn't what bothered her; Hiroshi had already been one, but yet another issue rose up: Seimei Aoyagi. She wanted so much to backhand him as hard as she could. No, that's what he wants. It would only prove to him that she wasn't capable of higher thinking. She gently removed the pillow from her face and clenched it to her chest. Her gaze towards the ceiling as she spoke her resolve.

"I am not nothing," She told herself, "I don't care how long it takes: I will prove him wrong,"

The door creaked open as Saya poked her head in sheepishly. Her voice was bearly audible as she spoke.

"Onee-San, I know you're going through alot so I'm gonna ask: You wanna talk or be left alone?"

Kaede sat up on her bed and motioned her sister that she was welcome; she then danced into the room. 'Maybe Saya's right,' She thought, 'A distracting conversation might be just what I need,'

It was nice to have some one who would always talk to you...


End file.
